Following abdominal surgery, some patients must wear ostomy pouches to collect waste fluids from a stoma extending through the abdominal wall. To prevent leakage, such pouches can connect to a patch adhered to the skin about the stoma. Ostomy belts are available that support the pouch and provide some elastic support to the abdomen, and have a hole through which the pouch connects to the adhered patch. The belt is worn such that the hole aligns with the stoma and the patch connection. Ostomy patients can have an increased risk of herniation about the stoma.
Some elastic bandages are also provided with openings through which a port or a wound can be accessed.
Improvements in these and other types of elastic bands or membranes, which provide access openings, are sought.